
Platform | Planning | Prediction
LONDON 16 May 2023
Leonardo Royal Hotel London Tower Bridge
Bio Integrates Speakers 2023

SALLY ANN FORSYTH OBE
Chief Executive Officer
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst

Platform | Planning | Prediction
Platform | Planning | Prediction
Platform | Planning | Prediction
Martino was the first CEO of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst an ambitious concept to develop an Incubator and Accelerator, followed by a world class Science Park for the Life Sciences sector.
Martino has a PhD in Biochemistry from Cardiff University and spent 4 years at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX in Cardiovascular research. Martino joined Amersham International in 1991 and subsequently went on to manage the R&D Technology Transfer Group, based in Cardiff and developing high throughput screening technologies for the Pharmaceutical sector.
Following the merger of Amersham with Pharmacia Biotech, Martino became the Science Director for the Cardiff site, Martino then became a Business Manager for Manchester Biotech Ltd. and subsequently Manchester Innovation Ltd. in June 1999. When the Universities of Manchester and UMIST merged, he became Managing Director of UMIC and MICL and is was a Board member of UKBI.
Martino was also acting Chairman for a start-up company, sri Forensics Ltd (2011-2014) and has previously been on the Board of Cartesian Technologies, BIONOW Steering Committee and was also a non – executive Director for Queen Mary Bioenterprise Ltd (2009-Aug 2010).. Martino has also been a Board member of the Hertfordshire LEP.
Martino was also appointed to the Life Science Wales Hub Board as a Non –Executive) from 2014-2017. Martino is now an Independent Consultant, based in Manchester. He currently has a part-time role as Entrepreneur in Residence at UMIP. Martino is also involved in assessing funding application and appraisals for Innovate UK, and NC3Rs. Most recently, Martino was appointed to the Board of BIONOW, the Northern Trade Organization for Life Sciences, as a non- Executive Director and as Chairman of the Discovery Park in June 2018
Dr Camilla Easter, has eight years biotech/mechtech start-up as CEO/COO working exclusively on hydrogel based medical devices. Originally a veterinary surgeon, she has run veterinary clinical trials and launched the veterinary arm of a biotech company. Following on from this she moved into the human biotech sector, here she was involved with all aspects of the company including, R&D, fundraising, regulatory and preclinical trials for medical devices.
As the founder and functioning CEO and CSO of Vitarka Therapeutics, Vineeta has more than 15 years’ experience in drug development. She has led multi-million-pound multi-site projects at UCL, Boehringer Ingelheim and Ipsen Bioinnovation. As an asset leader, she has delivered 2x therapeutics being tested in 7x clinical trials and 3x therapeutics for clinical development. She is a co-inventor on 13x granted patents. At Ipsen Bioinnovation, she was the strategic alliance leader for collaborations with Harvard Medical School (Isaac Chiu and John Collier), Boston Children’s Hospital (Min Dong) and Broad MIT (David Liu) where she sat on the Joint Steering Committee with the tech-transfer offices for in-licensing negotiations and research contracts. Previously, as a member of Prof Chris Shaw’s team she co-discovered mutations and functional properties of TDP-43 and FUS genes. These are breakthrough discoveries, with an entire disease pathology now termed as “TDP-43 proteinopathies”. Her work as first author and co-author is published in several imminent journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, PNAS, etc. with a citation record of >7000. Outside of work, Vineeta is a professional dancer with a Bachelors in Bharatnatyam and Post-Diploma in Indian Classical Dance form Kathak. A fun fact about her is that she has the memory of an elephant!
Lydia is CEO and co-founder of BoobyBiome, a company developing bacterial products for infants from the breast milk microbiome. As a microbiologist, Lydia is passionate about creating solutions in the real world for healthcare and the environment using biotechnology. Lydia has pursued this interest throughout her career; winning the Best Therapeutic prize at the international synthetic biology competition iGEM (2017), through her PhD research at University College London where she has published and presented her work widely from conferences to music festivals (2017-2022) and by winning the UCL Grand Challenges award to set up the first UK infant microbiome conference at the Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street hospital (2020). Lydia launched BoobyBiome with her co-founders in 2019 after participating in numerous Start-up accelerators and workshops (including BiotechYES, Imagine IF, PULSE, Panacea Stars). To date, Lydia and the BoobyBiome team have team successfully won four grant awards (from the BBSRC and Innovate UK) and completed a private equity round to carry R&D at the company forward. Keen to share her expertise, Lydia mentors iGEM and BiotechYES teams and also guest lectures to MSc students on Birkbeck University’s Bio-Business course.
During her time as CEO at Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, total private equity investment in biotechnology raised in Stevenage has grown to become comparable with that of Cambridge, London and Oxford.
Sally Ann has been responsible for the strategy, growth and development of four internationally recognised science parks including Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, Harwell Oxford, Colworth Science Park and Norwich Research Park.
She began her career with Unilever as part of the management training scheme and later had lead responsibility for In-Licensing, Strategic Alliances and Open Innovation within the Unilever Foods and Discovery divisions. Being part of the founding team of Unilever Ventures and Unilever Technology Ventures gave Sally Ann an insight into the needs of growing companies. She gained her property experience through Goodman International where she was Director of Science Parks responsible for the development and management of their UK portfolio.
Sally Ann is passionate about the translation of UK science into world leading innovations and the creation of supportive environments to help early-stage companies grow. She has a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Cambridge and is a qualified management accountant (CGMA).
A biochemist by training, Bradley started his career working for the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, driving drug discovery programmes. He has since spent 20 years commercialising research, mainly emanating from the world’s most prestigious universities. This experience includes seven and a half years within the seed funds team at Cambridge Enterprise (CE), the commercialisation arm of the University of Cambridge. Here, he made 16 investments in 12 different companies, ranging from therapeutics (including small molecules, biologics and gene therapy), diagnostics and prognostics, medical devices, reagents, digital health, and scientific instrumentation.
Bradley currently heads up the UK/EU Search & Evaluation team at Astellas Pharmaceuticals. Here his team scouts for potential partnerships of interest to Astellas, including research collaborations, licensing, VC investing and M&A.
Bradley has an undergraduate degree in Medical Biochemistry from Brunel University, a research master’s degree in Molecular Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge and an Executive MBA from Bayes (formerly Cass) Business School. He is also a visiting business fellow at InnovationRCA, the commercialisation arm of the Royal College of Art.
Janet Hemingway is Professor of Tropical Medicine at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and founding Director of the Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON). Responding to the growing challenge of infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and emerging pandemics, iiCON brings
together academic, industry, and clinical partners in a £170 million programme to transform the discovery and supply of much-needed anti-infectives and accelerate their journey to market.
She is a senior technical advisor on Neglected Tropical Diseases for the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and has been PI on projects in excess of £370 million including the BMGF funded Innovative Vector Control Consortium, the ERDF funded Formulations programme and the BMGF funded Visceral Leishmaniasis Elimination programme.
Professor Hemingway was appointed the Director of LSTM in 2001 and stepped down on 1st January 2019.
She was awarded a CBE for services to the Control of Tropical Disease Vectors in 2012.
Marc Wilkinson is a European and UK Patent Attorney with over 17 years’ experience representing clients in the biotechnology and life sciences sectors. Prior to this, he worked for over 5 years as a research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry.
Marc’s specialises in all areas of biotechnology and life sciences with a particular focus on genetics, biochemistry, molecular and cell biology. Marc handles patent cases involving humanised and monoclonal antibodies, transgenic technologies, induced pluripotent stem cells, RNAi, genome manipulation and editing including CRISPR, gene therapy, nucleic acid microarrays, diagnostic assays, microfluidic devices, PCR assays and reagents, and medical devices.
As well as providing patent validity, infringement and freedom-to-operate advice, he has extensive experience drafting and prosecuting patent applications. He has been involved in numerous cases before the Opposition Divisions and the Technical Boards of Appeal at the European Patent Office, and he holds the UK Higher Courts Litigation Certificate.
John von Benecke is Chief Executive Officer at Locate Bio, a regenerative medicine company focused on Orthobiologics.
During a career dedicated to healthcare, he spent the first decade with large blue-chip corporates like Abbott Laboratories before following his passion to work with early stage, university spinouts from across the UK.
During the last twenty years, he has worked with highly innovative companies across a diverse range of therapy areas including diabetes, cardiovascular health, peripheral arterial disease and orthobiologics.
He has raised over £100m of Venture Capital for several companies and taken two of them to highly successful exit events.
Following a period of significant international growth, ApaTech – a spinout from Queen Mary – was taken to a $330m exit to Baxter Healthcare.
The second exit event was with Veryan Medical – an Imperial College spinout, which was sold to Otsuka immediately after achieving FDA Premarket Approval.
John holds a degree in Organisational Psychology and qualified as a Chartered Management Account and holds the unswerving believe that the organisational culture and high performing teams are the most reliable predictors of the future success for early-stage start-ups.
Dr Bakul Gupta is the CEO and Co-founder of Deliver Biosciences, a preclinical stage cell therapy biotech which is developing safe, scalable and affordable in vivo cell therapies. The company is leveraging its unique platform to effectively deliver genetic cargoes directly to targeted cells, and applying it across different indications in cell and gene therapies.
Bakul founded the company in 2019, along with her business partner, Dr George Tetley after a 6-month long research into the challenges faced by current cell and gene therapy companies. She holds a PhD and BSc in Nanotechnology and Chemistry from the UNSW Australia, and finished her postdoctoral training with Prof. Molly Stevens at Imperial College London before starting ImmTune Therapies.
She has over 10 years of experience in designing nano- and bio-materials for a diverse set of biomedical applications and has previous experience in commercialisation of medical devices. She was recently listed as the Top 30 biotech entrepreneurs to watch as part of a report produced by BioBeat.
Nathan Sigworth is co-founder and CEO at CCX where he and his collaborators are building trading infrastructure to increase patient access to new kinds of treatments. Nathan began his career researching healthcare access in rural Uttar Pradesh India while a student at Dartmouth College and went on to co-found PharmaSecure to secure healthcare supply chains in emerging markets. After a decade working with industry and government on serialization infrastructure and policy, he started CCX with his co-founder Richard Bergström to explore how these new data sources could be combined with financial trading architecture to facilitate better deals for a new generation of therapies. Nathan Sigworth is a graduate of Dartmouth College, an Echoing Green Fellow and PopTech Fellow, and was selected as one of Inc Magazine’s “30 under 30” entrepreneurs. Nathan lives with wife and two daughters in Zug Switzerland.
Toby was the original creator of the structured venture development process used by WAPG and oversees its implementation and constant refinement.
He has a background in engineering and project management as well as business start-up and venture capital finance.
He has a degree in Engineering from the University of Nottingham and qualified as a chartered engineer with Arup. He has founded several start-ups and worked in company financing prior to joining BioCity as COO in 2011.
Toby was CEO of BioCity from January 2019, negotiating and guiding the company through its acquisition by Trinity. He is now an executive director of WAPG.
Kevin has over 25 years of experience in the life science industry, covering a wide range of sectors such as drug and vaccine development, biomanufacturing, biomedical imaging and clinical pharmacology. He has been CEO of a number of high growth biotechnology businesses and is currently Chairman of Biorelate Limited, Biotaspheric Limited and ValiRx plc.
Kevin’s non-business roles have included Board membership of the BIA, Chair of BioNow and the Bio/Pharma Advisory Committee of UKTI (now DIT), and membership of various government advisory boards. He is currently a non-executive director of the British Neuroscience Association and sits on an industry advisory board for UoM.
With a passion for improving translational science in the UK, Kevin has developed strong links to academia, funding bodies and government and is keen to improve connectivity across all sectors.
James heads Mills & Reeve’s multi-disciplinary life sciences practice. He supports businesses across the full product lifecycle, from start-up to commercialisation.
A key focus of his work is supporting clients on strategic contracting covering technology / IP in and out- licensing transactions, research collaborations, clinical trial agreements and long term partnering agreements. James also advises on sector regulation including pharma and medical device regulation, market access, borderline products, advertising and clinical trials.
Claire is an award-winning scientist, strategist and storyteller with more than 15 years’ experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry spanning the large multi-nationals GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, virtual and Contract Research Organisations. She is CEO of Agility Life Sciences, an award-winning CDMO, consulting and communications firm which works with organisations across the healthcare space to advance their products and raise their profile. She is also Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Cambridge, and holds an Honorary Professorship from the School of Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham. Claire is Chair of the International Pharmaceutical Federation’s Women in Science and Education (FIP WiSE) initiative.
Andreea is a highly skilled, interdisciplinary scientist and seasoned professional, that possess over 10 years of work experience within academic and industry research in the development and manufacturing of advanced therapeutic medicinal products (ATMPs), having completed a Chemical Engineering degree, a Master’s degree in Advanced Organic Chemistry and a PhD programme in Regenerative Medicine, and having held several responsibility, supervisory and leadership roles so far in her career in various charitable, academic, industry and government organisations such Anthony Nolan, Loughborough University, Locate Bio Ltd., Ministry of Defence, Innovate UK/UKRI and currently at Biomatics.
These roles along with her education and training have enabled her to acquire a broad-based knowledge and understanding and to have a translational/commercial outlook of the medicines manufacturing and advanced therapies sectors, the key challenges that companies in this sector face, the technologies involved and related disciplines (regulatory affairs, process economics, quality assurance) in the UK and globally.
I am a strategic and proactive business executive with a pragmatic and results oriented approach. I have a track record in property and business investment strategies with demonstrated success in growing and transforming businesses.
I am also passionate about helping businesses succeed and helping individuals attain their potential.
As CEO of Discovery Park, my focus is to further enhance Discovery Park’s offer as a global centre of excellence for science research and innovation – from startup right through to full scale production.
We are looking to provide a vibrant and more diverse ecosystem that our companies can benefit from and have easy access to and to continue the development of the great science community at the park.Mayer Schreiber
An organised, adaptable and independent scientific business & strategy developer and liaison with a background in pre-clinical drug development and scientific business development. A strong communicator with the ability to use one’s own initiative to problem solve and a drive to see things through to completion.
Dependable, cooperative and honest in a multidisciplinary team working environment.
Steve spent a decade working as a molecular biologist in drug discovery at Pfizer, focusing extensively on pain therapeutics and developing expertise in the gastrointestinal and respiratory fields, as well as in tissue repair. He has a deep understanding of how to use venom and toxin-derived compounds for drug discovery, having worked across the board in molecular biology, pharmacology, biochemistry and anatomy. Steve drew on these years of experience to found Venomtech, with the goal of solving problems faced in the drug discovery, crop protection and cosmetics industries.
Will joined Downing in August 2018 where he directs the healthcare activities of the Downing venture funds. Will has over 30 years’ experience in healthcare and biotechnology with over 18 years’ experience in venture capital across Europe and the US. After studying in Glasgow and Dundee he did 7 years post-doctoral research at the University of Munich before joining London based biotechnology company Antisoma. He then moved to Brussels where for over 10 years he ran the healthcare investments for Quest for Growth a large pan European cross over fund.
Clare is a Chief Technologist at CPI, one of the UK Government’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult centres that supports companies with development, scale up and commercialisation of new products and processes, acting as a catalyst to bring together academia, businesses, government and investors to translate bright ideas and research into the market. Clare has over 15 years of industrial experience working in the bioprocessing, biopharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors and joined CPI in 2014 to support the set-up of the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre, a state-of-the-art facility to accelerate innovation in biologics manufacture. Clare holds a PhD in molecular microbiology and an MSc in industrial biotechnology from Newcastle University.
Rick is a cell and molecular biologist by training, gaining his PhD at McGill University, Canada. This was followed by a postdoctorate at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, and then the National Institute for Medical Research. He left to join AstraZeneca as a Team Leader in the Department of Target Discovery, then worked for SanofiAventis as a Senior Team Leader. In 2001, he joined Impharmatica as Associate Director Target Discovery and worked very closely with the Business Development Team. In 2006, he joined UCLB as Assistant Director BioPharm, becoming Director in 2007. Here, he has overseen the formation of five NASDAQ-listed companies, Autolus Therapeutics, Achilles Therapeutics, Orchard Therapeutics, Freeline Therapeutics and Meira GTx, which have raised a total of $784m in their IPOs.
Andy is a drummer and played professionally for a period during his misspent youth. He continues to play regularly.
Dr. Krzysztof Potempa is a drug hunter dedicated to the prevention and treatment of neurological diseases that affect at least 1 in 6 people worldwide.
He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Georgia (Athens, GA, USA) and a Ph.D. degree in Neuroscience from the University Pierre Marie Curie (Paris, France).
After working for a decade in pharma and academia, he established BRAINCURES, an award-winning data analytics platform company that leverages a novel biological intelligence approach to deliver 60 to 100% clinical success outcomes and shorten drug development processes by at least 4 years. www.braincures.com
Experienced senior leader in the Pharmaceutical Industry with a proven track record of leadership, innovation and delivery across CMC product and technology development.
Currently SVP, CMC for two clinical-stage biotech companies, KaNDy Therapeutics and NeRRe Therapeutics, with accountability for the overall CMC strategy and delivery for both companies. Previously spent over 30 years at GlaxoSmithKline in leadership roles in CMC product development, manufacturing and quality.
Member of Innovate UK Medicines Manufacturing Challenge Advisory Group, the Knowledge Transfer Network Health Stakeholder Board and has been influential in aligning Pharma and UK Government on future areas for investment as part of the delivery of the UK Life Sciences Industrial Strategy. Advisor to the Board for the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UK.
Sheuli is a highly experienced and respected leader in life sciences.
Sheuli originally trained in medicine at Cambridge and Oxford then worked in the NHS before moving to pharmaceutical medicine. Sheuli has worked internationally in medical affairs, clinical development and life science policy.
She is the Vice President of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and a Global Fellow in Medicines Development with IFAPP.
Sheuli is a member of the Steering Group for the UKRI Multiple Long-Term Conditions Programme, the AoMRC Genomics Professional Partnerships Group and the UK Pharmacogenetics and Stratified Medicine Network Steering Group.
Sheuli is also a visiting lecturer at King’s College London.
Experienced Technical Director with extensive experience of working a in the pharmaceuticals industry.
I am expert in pharmaceutical development, manufacturing science and technology with a consistent track record of delivering high quality and robust medicines. I am experienced in Quality by Design, regulatory submissions and technology transfer.
I am an accomplished leader of technical functions and matrix teams across both Manufacturing and R&D organisations. I ensure success by setting the vision and develop strategies aligned to the organisations ambition, focusing on internal and external collaboration to deliver value.
As a leader of both line and matrix teams I have a people centric approach, setting high standards and driving delivery, whilst also creating an environment focused on personal development and continuous improvement to ensure everyone fulfils their potential.
As a medical doctor specialising in cancer research at some of the world’s top research institutes, Daniel helps design innovative and durable treatments against cancer by converting our platform’s computational results into clinical interpretations. His main responsibility lies in understanding scientific and medical challenges, to then guide our team of biologists. translational and data scientists in generating novel findings to move better treatments to patients.
Experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the biotechnology industry. With over 20 years experience in Product Management and Business Development. Working from new product innovation and release through to developing the full sales cycle. Skilled in Sequence Analysis, DNA Sequencing, Bioinformatics, Transcriptomics, and Enterprise Software. Strong professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused in Genetics from University of Liverpool.
Justin joined Charles River Laboratories in 2022 as Chief Scientific Officer (Early Discovery) and in this role he works closely with a range of experts to develop CRL’s drug discovery strategy, explore opportunities with existing and prospective clients, evaluate new areas of science and technology and develop new approaches to strengthen the CRL offering. Justin trained as a chemist at the universities of York and Oxford, the latter being as a post-doc under Professor Sir Jack Baldwin. Since then, he has gained over 30 years’ experience in drug discovery at several biotechnology and pharma companies including Parke-Davis and Pfizer. Prior to joining CRL, he spent 16 years as Director of Drug Discovery at LifeArc, a UK based charity and not-for-profit organisation, where he led a team covering chemistry, biology, antibodies and diagnostics. Justin holds an honorary professorship at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and he teaches on various aspects of drug discovery at QMUL, University College London and the Wellcome Trust. He also sits on a range of advisory committees and panels in the UK and Sweden. Justin Bryans
Juliana (Jules) Haggerty is Head of Centre of Excellence in Lipid Nanoparticles at CPI where she is responsible for anchoring and advancing UK capability and building collaborative Grand Challenge programmes in this exciting technology area, essential for the delivery of RNA vaccines and therapeutics. She supported CPI’s programmes in RNA vaccines for the UK Vaccine Taskforce in 2020 and provided expert advice and due diligence on legacy activities and onshoring throughout 2021.
Jules sits on the Technology and Innovation committee of the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership and on the Technology Roadmapping and Digital Technology Roadmapping groups within BioPhorum. She has significant expertise in the use of public/ private funding and collaborative R&D models to advance technology and innovation and led this activity within CPI for 5 years.
Jules has a BSc (Hons) degree in Physiological Sciences and an Engineering Doctorate in Biopharmaceutical Process Development from Newcastle University. In her early career, she spent 8 years at global Life Sciences company, Millipore, working on advanced and novel technology development and developing downstream processing best practice for biopharmaceutical manufacture.
Nigel is a research-driven Life Science Consultant with extensive drug discovery and development experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic sectors. He is motivated by the opportunity to translate basic research into clinical application in a way that benefits patients most effectively. Nigel was until recently, Director of Translational Science at CellCentric Ltd, a UK based biotechnology business, developing a novel therapeutic approach to treating a number of cancers. Before that he was Executive Project Lead for a number of oncology drug project teams at AstraZeneca and has taken several candidate drugs into clinical development. He is coach and advisor at Lean Life Science, a company dedicated to catalysing innovation in the Life Sciences sector, through the delivery of bespoke development programmes. Nigel sits on a number of advisory boards including the Prostate Cancer Research Translational Science Advisory Committee. Nigel holds a PhD from Nottingham University and is proud to have published over 80 peer reviewed papers.
Dr Suzy Dilly is currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the AIM-listed UK biotech, ValiRx PLC. Suzy is an experienced entrepreneurial scientist. After commercialising her Chemical Biology post-doctoral research in the University of Warwick spin-out, a2sp Limited, Suzy was awarded a prestigious Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship, during which formal commercial and entrepreneurial training completed her transition from lab to boardroom. Completing commercial transactions to progress projects through multiple companies, Suzy has been working in small company virtual biotechs since 2006.
Neil Jones is Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Aenova, global leading Contract Manufacturing and Development Organisation with around 4,200 employees. Neil Jones has a deep experience in the Pharmaceutical / Biotechnology product and services industries and a great reputation for driving significant growth in the CDMO market. Before joining Aenova, he was CEO and CBO at VMIC. Prior to that he held the position of Director Business Development Europe at Catalent Pharma, after a long and successful career in different roles at Patheon. Mr Jones holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Bristol and a Post Graduate Certificate in Management from the University of the West of England.
Tessa is CEO and Co-founder of PharmaReview, a professional services business that partnered with Bridgepoint Growth in June 2021. She has spent over 10 years working with Pharma companies and their agencies to maximise efficiency in copy review. Prior to this, she worked at some of the world’s leading advertising agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and DRAFT.
Tessa is passionate about the delivery of world class client service, to that end everyone within PharmaReview is encouraged to strive for excellence in everything they do.
An experienced pharmaceutical professional, Nick Smith has held various leadership roles within large and emerging organisations delivering complex programs and driving continuous improvement. Nick has successfully established the operational delivery new manufacturing facilities, extended and increased the productivity of new and mature lines as well as rapid new product introductions most notably the BDS for a COVID vaccine. With a background in Quality, Nick is well versed in delivering solutions that meet GMP requirements.
Jason is a scientist entrepreneur passionate about translating innovative technologies into better patient outcomes. As CEO and co-founder of Start Codon, a Cambridge based venture studio, he aims to identify and recruit the most disruptive healthcare startups worldwide, seed fund them and leverage the exceptional resources of the Cambridge cluster to de-risk and drive their success. Previously he was CEO of Cambridge Epigenetix and Business Development Manager for Horizon Discovery’s diagnostics division. He also served as an associate at Cambridge Enterprise, the technology transfer office of the University of Cambridge.
Jolyon is one of the founders of, and now head of business development for, PetMedix Ltd, a Cambridge, UK based biotechnology company. PetMedix is developing therapeutic antibodies for dogs and cats using a platform developed during Jolyon’s PhD in the laboratory of Prof Allan Bradley, co-founder and CSO of PetMedix.
Moving from the lab into a commercial role at PetMedix, Jolyon led the work to secure the company’s partnership deals with Boehringer Ingelheim and Zoetis. He has also been deeply involved in raising the $50M PetMedix has secured to date, as well as IP, Licensing, Comms, and Marketing projects across the company. Beyond his commercial roles, Jolyon is also the chair of PetMedix’s Green Group, which seeks to reduce or mitigate the environmental impact of the company.
As the inventor on the patents covering PetMedix’s platform and author of the thesis that describes it, he is uniquely positioned to apply his technical knowledge of the science underpinning the company to its commercial advantage. In 2021 Jolyon was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe List of top entrepreneurs in the Science and Healthcare category.
Irene is the founding CEO and a board director of the ScaleUp Institute, a private sector, not-for-profit company focused on making the UK the best place in the world to scale up a business.
She is a former senior banker at Standard Chartered where she held both European and global managing director roles. She set up, ran and scaled several of the bank’s key client and product businesses across its corporate and institutional bank and led several global M&A activities.
During that time at the height of the financial crisis was seconded to work across the banking industry where she lead the Business Finance Taskforce and Better Business Finance which was responsible for, amongst other initiatives, the founding of the Business Growth Fund, SME Finance Monitor, and leading on developments
in Open Banking, and the Small Business Act.
She is a Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at Strathclyde University and holds a variety of non executive director and advisory roles across the creative, business and finance communities.
Tina Flatau works with growing biopharma companies to establish and protect value in their core R&D, grow operational capabilities, and enable financing and partnering pre- and post-IPO /acquisition.
She has run operations and development programmes from R to D transition up to file. Previously as a consultant, she has developed and implemented operational effectiveness programmes across the whole R&D spectrum, from organizational start-ups to programme optimizations and improvements in the UK, Europe and the US with many of the big pharmas.
Tina is a pharmaceutical sciences PhD formerly with SmithKlineBeecham Pharmaceuticals, Coopers & Lybrand / PriceWaterhouse Coopers. She specialises in providing expert input to biotech companies from start-up and venture-capital stage to mid-sized companies at the stage of pharma collaborations and acquisition. Tina worked with specialist rare disease company Prosensa Therapeutics from 2009-2014, where she was VP of Alliances and Project Management, overseeing the R&D pipeline of antisense therapies and completing the business-side SEC submissions for Prosensa’s successful NASDAQ IPO in 2013. She has a special interest in orphan disease and rare disease patient advocacy. Tina is a Board member at Action Duchenne and a Research Ethics Committee member within the NHS.
• A trusted and approachable leader, with an ability to generate networks of relationships built upon confidence and respect. Ability to engage and influence, at all levels, on operational, tactical or strategic initiatives, seeing the bigger picture of potential considerations and outcomes.
• A respected subject matter expert with a multi-layered understanding of biopharma chemistry, manufacturing and controls from discovery through to launch.
• Highly experienced in technical aspects of introduction of new pharmaceutical products to commercial manufacturing as well as management of the technical wellbeing of existing launched products. This includes technology transfer and all aspects of GMP manufacture, filling, inspection, device assembly and packaging for sterile liquids and suspensions (including biologics), inhaled liquids, tablets, oral suspensions and dermatological creams and ointments.
• Significant regulatory and audit experience (including FDA and MHRA) including regulatory submissions, pre-approval inspections and responses to questions. Involved in multiple regulatory audits.
Other key experience and interests include:
• Bioprocessing: process development & optimisation, scale-up, GMP manufacturing, validation and analytical biochemistry.
• Product characterisation and comparability studies.
• Biopharmaceutical formulation and delivery.
• Quality Control testing, including bio-analytical testing, biological potency assays, quality systems, documentation and reporting.
• The design, construction and GMP operation of biopharmaceutical production facilities.
• Process simulation and cost modelling.
• Strategies for Production, QA, QC, Marketing, Operations, Regulatory Affairs and Engineering for all aspects of Bioprocess Development.
Josh has a PhD in Vaccinology and Infectious Diseases from the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford where he pioneered computational approaches to design vaccines against various infectious diseases. He’s designed a number of vaccines against diseases such as dengue and chikungunya to human papilloma virus (HPV) and malaria. Two of his vaccine candidates are currently in human clinical trials and licensed to pharma. For the last three years he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Imperial College London, developing new ways to create malaria vaccines. In 2019 he co-founded Baseimmune to generate mutation-proof vaccines through deep learning technology.
Alan is a Pharmaceutical Physician who has made leading contributions to developing medicines in industry, facilitated numerous drug development programs with academics, and driven the recognition for the new specialty of Pharmaceutical Medicine. His contribution to medicines development has resulted in so far, over fifteen products being licensed as prescription medicines and this includes nine cell and gene therapies.
In 2009, Professor Boyd was appointed an Honorary Professor in the College of Medical and Dental Sciences at the University of Birmingham Medical School. He is also a Fellow at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, where he has undertaken many officer roles over several years.
In 2015, Alan was elected President of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, a position he held for four years. Through his work at the Faculty, he has made significant contributions to the establishment of the specialty training program in pharmaceutical medicine, which has now resulted in around 400 post-graduate trainees receiving a CCT in the specialty.
In 2021, he was awarded a Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in recognition of his significant involvement in supporting the development of medicines across several therapeutic areas, most notably in the field of cell and gene advanced therapeutics.
Alan’s career originally began with Glaxo Group Research Ltd. Then from 1988, he led ICI’s cardiovascular medical research team, later assuming the role of Director of Clinical and Medical Affairs at ICI Pharma in Canada.
In 1999, after four years as Head of Medical Research for Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, he became Director of Research and Development for Ark Therapeutics Ltd where he was responsible for delivering the majority of key development milestones that shaped the company. In particular, he led the development of their gene-based medicines portfolio.
In April 2005, he left to set up Boyds, the focus of which is to aid and support early-stage life-science-based companies and universities particularly in the translation and development of their research ideas into therapeutics.
Craig joined Oxford Science Enterprises as Operating Partner in the Life Sciences team in February 2022. He supports the growth and development of Oxford Science Enterprises’ Life Science businesses, the identification of new opportunities, and formation of new spinouts.
Craig is an experienced biologist and NIH funded Principal Investigator who has managed and worked on numerous drug discovery and development projects over more than 20 years in the industry, from initial target selection right through to investigating clinical efficacy and safety in Phase 2 patient studies.
Prior to joining C4XD, he was Director of Respiratory Research at Pulmagen Therapeutics where he managed several of its programmes, collaborations and partnerships, including those with AstraZeneca, Teijin Pharma and Chiesi. Craig has also previously worked for Argenta Discovery, Etiologics Ltd and Bayer plc and has a PhD in Respiratory Medicine from Birmingham University and a first-class Biochemistry degree from the University of Surrey.
Craig is an experienced biologist and NIH funded Principal Investigator who has managed and worked on numerous drug discovery and development projects over more than 20 years in the industry, from initial target selection right through to investigating clinical efficacy and safety in Phase 2 patient studies.
Prior to joining Oxford Sciences he was Chief Scientific Officer and an Executive Board Member at C4X Discovery for more than six years, guiding its transition from a technology-based company to a therapeutics business, raised >£35m on the UK public market, forged strategic collaborations and oversaw an emerging drug discovery pipeline that has led to multiple licensing deals with Pharma. Prior to joining C4XD, he was Director of Respiratory Research at Pulmagen Therapeutics where he managed several of its programmes, collaborations and partnerships, including those with AstraZeneca, Teijin Pharma and Chiesi. Craig has a PhD in Respiratory Medicine and has also previously worked for Argenta Discovery, Etiologics Ltd and Bayer plc.
Craig has a PhD in Respiratory Medicine from Birmingham University and a first-class Biochemistry degree from the University of Surrey.
Claire Patterson is Senior Principal Scientist at SEDA, a company providing integrated Pharmaceutical Development and Clinical Pharmacology Services to the pharma industry. Her role includes the provision of technical consultancy and pharmaceutical project leadership to SEDA’s clients, with a specialism in subcutaneous and complex parenteral biopharmaceutics (including nanomedicines).
Claire holds a Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics, and gained more than 12 years’ experience as a Biopharmaceutics scientist in large Pharma within team management and scientific leadership positions, spanning both Early and Late Stage Product Development.
Jenny is Chief Executive Officer at Emm, a company revolutionizing women’s heath with a novel bio-wearable menstrual product that tracks reproductive health bio-metrics.
During a career in business, she spent several years working in a Family Office before co-founding a successful company in the consumer sector in 2018.
She set up Emm in 2020 after seeing an opportunity to utilise menstrual products as a non-invasive sample collection method for unique insights into individual’s gynaecological health. Emm has collaborated with Google, InnovateUK and University of Cambridge.
Jenny has been awarded a Women in Engineering award for her work in female health innovation, and sits on the advisory board for Digital Health at the University of Bristol.
Experienced computational scientist, bringing state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and mathematical techniques into large scale data applications.
Deep learning expert, with a particular interest in applying AI to medical research needs.
Prior experience using machine learning and molecular mechanics for drug design, protein – protein interaction modelling, drug combination therapy design.
Prior experience in using AI for image analysis, including MRI, CT and mammogram scans for detecting anomalies.
Experienced GPU programmer, speaking C++, CUDA, OpenCL, Java, python and C#
Roel de Nobel joined Aenova in February 2023 and is Senior Vice President of the Business Unit Solids with the 7 production sites Bad Aibling, Killorglin, Marburg, Münster, Regensburg, Tittmoning and Sisseln. He has many years of experience in responsible positions in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in the consumer goods sector. His last positions were Global Vice President Operations and Vice President & General Manager Asia Pacific at a leading international CDMO. Mr. de Nobel studied Business Administration & Management at Hanze University Groningen, The Netherlands.
Executive Summary
Currently at University of Cambridge where I am the Professor of Innate Immunity in the Departments of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.
I have a unique blend of both industrial and academic experience. During a 10 month sabbatical from my academic role in 2016/2018 I worked in the Department of Physiological Chemistry with Dr Vishva Dixit, at Genentech at their south San Francisco site. During this period, I gained experience of working within Target Discovery in a large, and successful, Biotech. I was also mentored by Dr James Sabry (Global Head of Pharma Partnering (Genentech and Roche), Roche Basel, Switzerland) resulting in my being well versed in the process of, and due diligence involved in, developing external partnerships to bring in molecules or technology to the company. Further to this I spent three years on secondment at the GSK Immunology Catalyst at the GSK Stevenage (UK) site, running a small internal research group (in addition to my University research group). My time in both Biopharma and large Pharma has provided a broad insight into the challenges of drug discovery and the different approaches one may use to overcome them. This experience has allowed me to understand the best way to provide value to several scientific advisory boards and encouraged me to establish a start-up company
Jennifer Laird, Ph.D., D.Sc. is VP, Search & Evaluation Pain & Neurodegeneration at Eli Lilly and Company, based at Lilly’s European Headquarters near London, UK. The global Search & Evaluation team complements Lilly’s internal R&D efforts by evaluating, in-licensing or acquiring assets and technologies and by advancing molecules through discovery and development in collaboration with external partners.
Prior to joining Lilly in 2012, Dr. Laird held various leadership roles in Translational Science, Project Management and Pharmacology at AstraZeneca, in academia and Merck. Dr. Laird received doctorates from Bristol University and University of Alicante, Spain.
Rich is CEO of London BioInnovation Centre Ltd, a subsidiary company of the Royal Veterinary College and a key provider of innovation space and supports for early-stage biotech companies in London’s vibrant Knowledge Quarter. He joined having spent 3 years at UCC where he was Director of Innovation, responsible for technology transfer, entrepreneurship, consultancy, and incubation.
Prior to that he was at University of Manchester where, during 18 years of service, he held various innovation positions culminating with him being Director of Operations of its subsidiary innovation company. His early career was with AstraZeneca Diagnostics where he held scientific and business development roles before leading its Sales & marketing function internationally. Rich has advised Enterprise Ireland and BBSRC and works closely with Praxis Auril where he co-directs its course on spin-out company creation.
Rich holds a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry (Sussex) and a PhD in molecular biology from Reading.
Fiona is a biotechnology entrepreneur who has worked in the industry for >25 years and currently is Chair and CEO of Erebagen Limited a synthetic biology company with a technology platform for pharma discovery and development. She previously founded and developed biotech businesses notably Novacta Biosystems.
From 2018-2023 Fiona worked for Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) as Director of the Centre of Excellence in Infectious Diseases Research focused on commercial translation for the LSTM and University of Liverpool and subsequently as Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence supporting training and mentoring in commercial translation for staff and students. Early in her career Fiona worked in international business development and went on to found an investment incubator Healthcare Ventures, for the Rothschild Bioscience Unit and J&J Development Corporation investing in European entrepreneurs.
Fiona recently was appointed Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence for the University of Reading. She also advises the seed fund UKI2S and the NC3R’s CRACK IT Challenge, is a Bruntwood SciTech Life Sciences Mentor and a Non-Executive Director for Alder Hey NHS Foundation Trust.
Fiona has a BSc Hons (Biological Sciences; UEA), PhD (Biochemistry; UKC), MBA (London Business School) and was awarded an OBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Joe Day is a Senior Business Development Executive at Cancer Research Horizons, the Innovation Engine for Cancer Research UK. He leads a team focussed on AI and Data collaborations which includes enabling commercial data sharing and identifying opportunities for partnerships with the AI and tech community across data, drug discovery and clinical development. Joe has been at CRUK for six and a half years, with the last four focussed on building the commercial partnering strategy in AI and Data and before that completed a masters degree in Biochemistry.
Chris has over 25 years’ experience across pharmaceutical sciences and biopharmaceutics. His current role at Quotient involves designing science-led, robust, clinical study programs which maximise output for clients, in addition to providing scientific leadership throughout study delivery. Prior to Quotient, Chris held a series of technical and leadership roles at Sanofi, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Walgreens Boots Alliance. His experience ranges from early pre-formulation and biopharmaceutical assessments, through development of a wide range of dosage forms from the pre-clinical phase up to life-cycle management of marketed products.
Sam is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ignota Labs. Ignota Labs’ Explainable AI platform predicts and solves safety problems throughout the drug development process. Sam is a former mathematician and leader in data-driven solutions to solve healthcare-related problems. He has an MBA from INSEAD Business School, a Masters in Mathematics from Nottingham University and experience working across the NHS, big pharma and other corporates, hospital trusts, and startups.
An entrepreneur in her own right, Jo has supported hundreds of companies over the last 3 decades in their innovation journeys. With a background in law, Jo is an Intellectual Property protection and commercialisation expert. She has spun out 30+ innovation-based companies, built and managed three University based business incubators and two science parks, and latterly, developed her own grant writing company, which in 2021 joined the Inventya Group where she is Director of Grants & Tenders along with being Head of Business Development.
Built out Octopus Ventures’ Biotech/TechBio practice and lead on the firm’s Bio investment strategy. Bootstrapped a network in the space to build out the firm’s Biotech/TechBio portfolio.
Organise and run the Bio Disruptors Showcase, helping the best of UK and Europe Bio entrepreneurs connect with top-tier EU and US funds and growth stage funds with a strong track record in the Biotech space – catalysing fundraising conversations. Only Bio-focused event in the UK with curated businesses and access to specialist Bio VCs across the spectrum (seed to growth investors) both sides of the Atlantic. Five out of the ten businesses selected to present at the 2021 event went on to raise $50m – $150m each within 12 months of the event.
Martin joined CPI in 2020 and is responsible for delivering the digital strategy for the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre. Martin holds a Masters in Product Design Engineering from the University of Glasgow and Glasgow School of Art.
Martin has 8 years’ experience in the technology industry delivering new innovations to market. Prior to joining CPI, he has held roles in R&D teams at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dyson Technology Ltd.
He has hands on design experience in digital and physical products, working through the design processes from initial strategic ideas and fundamental research through to manufacturing. He Follows a design methodology with a key emphasis on building prototypes to solve technical challenges or define and refine user experience.
Moein Moghimi is a Professor of Pharmaceutics and Nanomedicine at the School of Pharmacy, and Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University (UK), and an Adjoint Professor at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy, University of Colorado, Denver. He is co-founder of S M Discovery Group Inc. and S M Discovery Group Ltd. He further serves as Associate Editor of Molecular Therapy (the flagship journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy) and Drug Delivery (Taylor and Francis). Previously, he was Chair of Nanomedicine at Durham University (UK), Professor of Nanomedicine at Copenhagen University, Director of the Centre for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology (Copenhagen University), Visiting Professor at the University of Padova (Italy) and Affiliate Professor at Houston Methodist Research Institute (Texas). He graduated with Honors in Biochemistry from the University of Manchester (UK) in 1985 and completed his PhD in Biochemistry at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (Imperial College). He is widely published and reported in the press, and recognised for his contribution to fundamental and translational research in nanomedicine and drug delivery, especially in mechanistic understanding of nanoparticle-mediated complement activation and adverse reactions, and as an inventor of many drug delivery systems for tissue-specific targeting.
With a diverse background in large pharma and biotech companies, Helen leads the successful technical and strategic development of novel compounds, devices, and businesses.
Helen is the Vice President of Global Tech Ops & CMC at Reneo Pharma Ltd., a clinical-stage company focused on the development and commercialisation of therapies for patients with rare, genetic, mitochondrial diseases. She is also the founder and managing director of Project-ion Ltd, which advances the development of small and large molecules with biotech organisations.
She has a proven track record in developing innovative project strategies and their delivery to critical milestones. A leader of global, multidisciplinary teams in CMC, diagnostics, clinical research, and across R&D.
She enjoyed a range of positions within Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, multiple start-up companies, and the University of Oxford, enabled by degrees in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science and an MBA. She was Head of Pharmaceutical Development at Ziarco, which Novartis acquired in 2016.
Helen is a Faculty Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, a Chartered Chemist, Chartered Scientist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Areas of particular expertise include rare and orphan, infectious, and respiratory diseases. Further interests include business strategy development, supporting emerging pharmaceutical scientist leaders, and patient and public involvement in research.
Dr James Rushworth is a Senior Scientist and Intellectual Property Manager at Sixfold Bioscience, a venture-backed preclinical-stage biotech that utilises advanced nanoengineering to create safer and more targeted systems for the delivery of RNA therapies.
As a chemist by training, James forms part of the R&D team that drives Sixfold’s innovation. He actively contributes to the development of Sixfold’s proprietary platform, Mergo, and is also tasked with determining the most effective methods of protecting the platform through management of the company’s patent portfolio.
James holds a PhD in Chemistry from Imperial College London, where he worked on polymeric drug delivery (at the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO, Melbourne) and the development of novel tubulin inhibitors for cancer therapy (at Imperial College).
Adrian Kinkaid has over twenty-five years’ experience working in the bioscience sector. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from University of Southampton and has expertise in development and commercialisation of all the main classes of affinity reagents. He joined Fusion Antibodies as CEO in August 2022. Adrian’s previous experience has included senior management positions in drug discovery, reagent technology and diagnostics. He is passionate about harnessing biotechnology to create better drugs and diagnostics in order to improve health and wellbeing on a global scale.
Alex is an investment executive at 24Haymarket, a UK-based VC with over £110m assets under management. Alex leads the healthcare vertical, with a portfolio that includes Radar Healthcare, DrDoctor and Mogrify. Before joining 24Haymarket, Alex worked in management consulting at Accenture helping to drive digital strategies at global corporations. Alex has a biochemical engineering degree from Queens University in Canada and an MBA from London Business School.
Dr Raminderpal Singh is the CEO and co-Founder of Incubate.bio Ltd, a computational biotech developing deep insights to prioritise important therapeutic targets for addressing neurodegenerative diseases . He is a seasoned business development and sales executive, with extensive experience in small and large companies in both the UK and the US. Notably, Dr Singh was a business development executive for IBM Research’s genomics program, where he developed and led the go-to-market for IBM Watson Genomics Analytics (2012-2015). He also served as Vice President and Head of the Microbiome Division at Eagle Genomics Ltd (2015-2018). He currently advises several early stage startups working in the intersection of data science and biology/healthcare. Dr Singh earned his PhD in semiconductor modelling in 1997. He has published several papers and two books, and he has twelve issued patents. In 2003, he was selected by EETimes as one of the top 13 most influential people in the semiconductor industry.
Country Medical Director at Moderna UK, Dr Philip Cruz, has over 15 years of experience in medical affairs in the field of vaccines and paediatrics within the pharmaceutical industry. At Moderna in the UK, Dr Cruz is responsible for the development and execution of the medical affairs strategy for Moderna’s infectious disease franchise and drives scientific leadership for the vaccine portfolio, while ensuring compliance with applicable policies and procedures. He also ensures effective interactions with key UK scientific leaders, public health experts, scientific and medical associations and healthcare authorities at the national level, providing country insight-gathering activities to meet the company needs around the clinical development and innovation in the field of vaccination.
Dr Cruz worked at GSK Vaccines for over 11 years, eventually assuming the role of Vaccines Medical Director for the UK and Ireland. Following his time at GSK, he was appointed as Senior Global Medical Affairs Leader (Vaccines) at AstraZeneca. He has a breadth of experience in clinical development and continues his involvement in clinical trials as a local medical lead. His role as an ABPI final signatory has given him established knowledge in medical governance and he has extensive experience in pharmaceutical medical affairs.
A paediatrician by training, Dr Cruz is actively involved in clinical research, research and development and pharmaceutical medicine.
Debora is Enhanc3D Genomics CEO and has a keen interest in disruptive technologies that have potential to benefit human healthcare. She brings a wealth of experience in technology development, together with a track record of successfully delivering large-scale projects in academia and industry. In previous roles Debora led a cancer signature discovery (Director at Cambridge Epigenetix), directed and managed laboratory research on large population studies (Head of laboratory, MRC Epidemiology, University of Cambridge) and worked on the development of the Oxford Nanopore’s technology. At Enhanc3D Genomics, Debora is driving the development of the technical platforms, establishing partnerships across the pharma and biotech industry, and advocating the advent of a 3D genomics era.
Dr Michal S Barski has over 10 years of experience working in academic research, specialising in structural biology, virology, pharmacology and bioinformatics. After a PhD at the University of St Andrews and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Imperial College London, Michal co-founded Reciprocal Space where he leads the incredibly dynamic and multi-disciplinary team to deliver visuals that are data-driven and scientifically accurate.
Joachim is passionate about Clinical Research and co-founder of BioLink
Intelligence a company that enables Biopharmaceutical companies to plan and
execute professional Clinical Research. He is an experienced Senior Executive
in Pharmaceutical Research and Development with extensive knowledge of
clinical development processes, digital technologies, and a track record of
operational over delivery. He led modernization of clinical trial conduct to
transform patient health at Bayer as Senior Vice President of Clinical
Joachim Luithle Operations an organization active in 45 countries
Aiden Flynn is the founder and CEO of Exploristics and has 25 years’ experience as a statistician in drug discovery and clinical development.
With key expertise in emerging approaches to clinical development such as Precision Medicine and biomarker discovery, validation and integration, Aiden has worked closely with regulatory authorities, such as the FDA and EMA, to develop tools and guidelines that support the use of biomarkers in clinical studies. He has over 40 publications in peer reviewed journals and books and is an invited speaker at international conferences. Aiden is also a member of the Precision Medicine Advisory Board at Merck Biopharm and is involved in the Precision Medicine Steering Group, offering strategic advice to the Department of Health
Dr. Ali has served as an advisor to Oak Hill Bio since inception. He has public market experience as the Chief Operating Officer and Director of JATT Acquisition Corp, a special acquisition company with a focus on the life science sector. His prior experience also includes serving as Executive Vice President of Translational & Clinical Science at Cambrian Biopharma, a biotech venture capital holding company.
Prior to that, he spent five years at Takeda, where he served as Vice President of Search & Translational Science (Rare Diseases Therapy Area Unit) and also founded and led TAKcelerator™, a virtual rare disease biotech unit within Takeda. Within its first two years, TAKcelerator™ initiated the development of multiple investigational therapies, including drug candidates to treat acute-on-chronic liver disease, CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder (a genetic developmental and seizure disorder), and Stargardt disease (a rare genetic condition causing blindness). Dr. Ali has previously worked with UCB Pharma, Ipsen Group, and Shire Pharmaceuticals.
Raja Sharif, Founder and CEO of ATMPS Ltd, is driving the company’s vision and mission of creating innovative, digital solutions for the personalised medicine and healthcare sector to protect patients and creating efficiencies in the cell and gene therapy industry. Using IoT and blockchain technology, ATMPS Ltd is creating a transparent, auditable, secure, global solution to give confidence to patients, clinicians and regulators worldwide. Raja is a UK qualified barrister, with over 25 years legal and business experience in multinationals including Guardian IT PLC, Globix, BT plc, COLT and Al Jazeera.
Richard is co-founder, CEO and Chair of BiologIC Technologies Limited. BiologIC’s integrated processing development platform enhances yields, process robustness and scalability of advanced biology products. The platform, enabled by novel biocomputer technology, is a new category of machine built from fluidic processing chips designed like computer chips. Our vision is to help customers engineer biology to solve enormous challenges faced by humanity (feeding 9.8 billion people by 2050, mitigating climate change and reducing the threat of diseases) in an environmentally sustainable, economically accessible way.
An authentic and passionate leader, Richard inspires transformational change through the alignment of purposeful vision, high performing talent and quality capital. He creates significant value through executive leadership, vision and strategy, commercialisation of science, capital market expertise, cultural and organisational change and building operational scale.
In seven valuable years as interim CEO, deputy CEO, CFO, COO and Company Secretary, Richard was instrumental in growing Horizon Discovery Group plc from an emerging private company of £3m revenue in 2012 to a recognised global leader in gene editing delivering revenue of £60m at a valuation of £350m. Richard delivered one of the most successful ever Life Science listings on AIM raising £68.6m in a heavily oversubscribed IPO at the top of its valuation range within 3 months, fundraisings in the UK and the US, four acquisitions and hostile bid defence.
Richard was previously Vice President, Finance at CSR plc, a dual listed FTSE 250 semiconductor company with $1bn of revenues, and a director in Deloitte’s life sciences practice. Richard is a qualified chartered accountant with a first class degree in biological sciences from Durham University.
Dr Fiona Dempsey has over 25 years’ experience encompassing the biopharmaceutical industry, academic research and commercial environments. She has extensive expertise in cell biology, bioanalysis, and bioprocesses and has contributed to a number of successful products and processes. Previous roles include Senior Research Scientist at Cambridge Antibody Technology/MedImmune and Manager for Immunology and Flow Cytometry at Charles River. Prior to joining Medannex, she was a Research Fellow in the Cellular Bioprocessing Group at Heriot-Watt University working within the cell therapy field.
• A proven leader in both small and large organisations with National and International experience of building and rebuilding teams to achieve at the highest level
• An accomplished Commercial Director and Change Management advocate who has created positive impacts in global organisations over the past 10 years
• Successfully built partnerships with small and large organisations, in both the private and public sector in multiple fields
• Post Grad education in Medical Sciences and Marketing
• First-hand experience working in USA, Europe, Africa and the Middle East
• An excellent communicator with extensive knowledge of Med Tech, Diagnostics, Software, Sales, Operations and Customer Service.
• Passionate about sports, healthcare, fitness, learning, charitable causes, doing the right thing and, above all, my family.
Inhalytic Ltd is an analytical chemistry testing consultancy set up by Frank Chambers (Formerly of AstraZeneca and Mylan) in July 2018 specialising in the analysis of Orally Inhaled and Nasal Drug Products (OINDP’s). Inhalytic has formed a strategic link with the Medway Centre for Pharmaceutical Sciences, which is affiliated to the Faculty of Science and Engineering at The University of Greenwich at Medway. This allows Inhalytic to provide laboratory support and consultancy services to the pharmaceutical industry over a wide range of analytical techniques used to characterise, develop and performance test OINDP’s.
I am a member of the EPAG Impactor sub-team, and I have published a number of posters and scientific abstracts at international conferences such as RDD and DDL.
Primary Services
• Inhaled Pharmaceutical testing
• Analyst Training
• Spacer performance evaluation
• Impactor testing (including Abbreviated Impactor Measurement – AIM)
• pMDI platform development analysis
• Data Interpretation
• Analytical Trouble shooting
• In Vivo In Vitro testing (IVIVC)
– Oropharyngeal cast testing
– Breathing simulation studies
• Introduction of new test equipment, test procedures and competencies into Analytical Testing Laboratories
– Plume Geometry
– Spacer testing methods
– Shake and fire Characterisation equipment for pMDI
• CRO/CMO selection and oversight
Charles is a Director at Stanhope. Since joining in 1989, he has developed a specialism in the ‘front end’ of the development process including identification and securing new opportunities, managing all aspects of pre-development including planning as well as general de-risking projects to enable implementation to take place. Charles has been involved with some major mixed use projects including Ruskin Square, Television Centre and the Royal Albert Dock. Currently, Charles is heading up the British Library project in its early stages. As a result he has developed a specific interest and expertise in the Life Science sector. He is a Chartered Surveyor, has looked after PR and communications for Stanhope and was an advisor to the Photographers’ Gallery.
Dr. Khan holds a PhD in Human Genetics and an MBA. Prior to founding Serna bio, Dr. Khan was Managing Director of Discovery Sciences at Sensyne Health Plc (now: Arcturis) where she established the scientific strategy, built the data science and discovery teams and led the pharma partnerships with Bayer, BMS, Roche and Alexion and others. She has also held senior roles at BenevolentAI and Meta (acquired by Chan Zuckerberg BioHub).
Born and raised in Pakistan, Dr. Khan has a passion for spearheading diversity STEM. She was named 50 Movers and Shakers in BioBusiness and 30 Rising Leaders in Biotech 2020.